Elena Rybakina is out of the 2023 World Tennis League after two days of action, and she'll now face a race against time ahead of the 2024 WTA season.
Rybakina has had some unfortunate luck with sicknesses in the past, as her 2023 Roland Garros campaign got completely derailed by one. She played very well at the event and looked primed for a deep run, but then suddenly got sick and had to withdraw.
It was a bad one, as she spent days in bed before finally being able to get up. The sickness drained her for future events, so let's hope that's not the case now, as once again, she withdrew from a tournament due to sickness.
The event announced Rybakina's withdrawal at the same time when the daily schedule came out with the reason named sickness.
Veteran Vera Zvonareva will replace the Kazakhstani player for the rest of the event, though their chances aren't pretty good after this withdrawal. The team already had another player withdraw earlier in the competition.
It's not the best timing for sickness because she needs the matches ahead of the Australian Open to build up confidence and rhythm. She's looked pretty good in Abu Dhabi, and building upon that Down Under would have been ideal.
There is still a chance that she gets the chance to do that, but there is also a chance this sickness and its effects will linger for a few weeks. Last year's Australian Open campaign was really good for Rybakina as she made it all the way to the final.
Despite losing, it proved like a solid introduction to the new season, which ended up being the best she's ever had. A similar start this year would be great as she has high ambitions but this is a bit of an early obstacle to overcome.
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